Napolitano reviews South Texas border operations

MCALLEN — The recent reviews of deportation cases to focus on illegal immigrants who have committed crimes or previously been deported is a necessity and shouldn’t demoralize U.S. Border Patrol agents, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday.

Federal prosecutors have been reviewing thousands of deportation cases in recent months in an effort to focus resources on such cases. That has left many immigrants who have lived in the U.S. illegally for years in a legal limbo, neither achieving legal status nor facing immediate deportation.

Napolitano, a former Arizona governor, told reporters at a Border Patrol station five miles from the Rio Grande that recently apprehended illegal immigrants remain a priority, but that existing cases must be prioritized to make best use of resources.

“We want to protect public safety and protect the integrity of the immigration system,” Napolitano said. “We want to prioritize removing from the country those who have committed crimes in addition to violating our nation’s immigration laws.”

George McCubbin III, president of the National Border Patrol Council that represents agents, echoed the rank-and-file agents’ concerns about using more discretion in deportation cases.

“It’s just another tool for the administration to allow people to stay here,” said McCubbin, a Border Patrol agent assigned to the Tucson, Ariz., sector. “It’s a backdoor way toward the overall goal, which is amnesty.”

Before Napolitano spoke, about 30 people from local civil rights organizations protested outside carrying signs calling for immigration reform, something Napolitano repeated in her remarks.

Sergio Narvaez, a 63-year-old from Mission, said people who come to work should be respected and deportations should be halted except for those convicted of crimes.

Data released Tuesday by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University showed the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement initiated 39,331 deportation cases in the final three months of 2011 — about one-third fewer than in the previous quarter. Even adjusted for seasonal variance, it appeared there were about 10,000 fewer cases than would be expected, according to a statement from TRAC.

“Even with fewer filings there is little evidence that these cases are being better targeted toward serious criminals,” the statement said.

Earlier Tuesday, Napolitano met with area border sheriffs. She said they confirmed that U.S. border communities have so far avoided anything approaching the level of drug-related violence seen across the border in Mexico.

“There are undoubtedly some crimes that occur that are related to drugs, let me not underestimate that,” Napolitano said. “We know. But the kind of violence that you’re seeing on the Mexican side where it’s really cartel on cartel, cartel against law enforcement in a sustained, organized way, that kind of spillover violence we have not seen.”

“I think we can be ahead of and will be ahead of any kind of systemic spillover violence,” she added.

Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner David Aguilar, who is from the area, said he invited Napolitano to see the challenges on this part of the border, among them the distinctive terrain along the winding Rio Grande.

During her day and a half visit Napolitano reviewed port of entry operations at the Pharr International Bridge and flew above the Rio Grande.